Apologies John Galvin was in the list!
Tremendous post.
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Dublinness XV
Clucko
Philly Hargan Holden
Jamesie Mac Barr Small
Mullins Whelo
Vinnie Dermo Dully
Heffo Jimmy Big Joe
Subs: Cullen, Kevin Moran, The Panther, Gay O’Driscoll, Charlie Charlie, Jayo, Homer, Heery, Dave Hickey
Player-Manager: Heffo
Selector: Roy Curtis
Barely if at all accepted as Dubs XV:
Bryan Murphy (a Kerryman)
Shocko Deasy Peadar Andrews
Carr O’Sullivan Dr. Pat
Sheedy Gilroy (was never popular as a player, much more so as a manager)
B. Rock Hanahoe Enda Sheehy
Vaughan Bonner B. Brogan
Subs: Declan Lally, Niall Guiden, Niall Corkery, Ken Darcy, Declan Darcy, Liam Óg O’hÉineacháin
Managers: Tommy Carr/Tommy Lyons
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Connolly also carried his club to 2 all irelands winning motm in both finals.
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Five moments that summed up the monster that is Lee Keegan
What elevated him was defiance, mental strength and well-timed excellence
1 October 2016; Diarmuid Connolly of Dublin and Lee Keegan of Mayo tussle during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final Replay match between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
MON, 09 JAN, 2023 - 19:35
MAURICE BROSNAN
In the oncoming wave of tributes, some will reference the fact Lee Keegan lost six All-Ireland finals like an anchor around his neck. To define such a remarkable career by those simplistic terms would be a travesty.
For those dim minds, sport can be boiled down to winners and losers. Them and us. It lowers Mayo’s greatest to the same level as everyone without a Celtic Cross. Such a diminishing is farcical. Keegan was on a different stratosphere to the majority. A refusal to accept mediocrity was his calling card.
What elevated him was defiance, mental strength and well-timed excellence. There is something particularly laudable and lyrical about great performances on losing teams. Shane Walsh, James McCarthy and Rian O’Neill all gave superb showings in that mould last year. Keegan did it for a lifetime. On the other side, it was his single-minded resolve that saved Mayo when the tide had turned and threatened to wash them away.
In 2019, the writing appeared etched on the wall for the county and Keegan. Dublin’s second-half blitzkrieg broke them both. Con O’Callaghan finished with two goals. Keegan finished on the ground after ankle, shoulder and hip issues had forced him to endure annual surgeries over the previous three years.
During lockdown he built a home gym and reconstructed his body. He never played for Mayo as a minor and was a fringe U21 so S&C and all that came with it was a foreign concept when he emerged as a senior. By 2020 he was back to his best. In the 2021 semi-final, he was man of the match on Con O’Callaghan and won an All-Star. He was nominated for another in 2022.
All the while leading the charge when he was swimming upstream. When James Horan’s side found themselves six points down against Galway earlier this year, it was a trademark Keegan burst forward and score than instigated the fightback. After a 20-minute dry spell against Monaghan, he kicked a bomb from distance.
In the first half against Kildare they were three down when he landed a beauty with the outside of the right. In the second half, the deficit was four as he did the same with his left before roaring for a response. Phenomenal moments. And they still wouldn’t crack his top five.
- 2017 Roscommon goal, All-Ireland quarter-final
30 July 2017; Lee Keegan of Mayo scores a goal in the 12th minute during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Quarter-Final match between Mayo and Roscommon at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
The cruellest of blows for Kevin McStay. He witnessed first-hand how devastating a weapon Keegan can be and now will never get the chance to utilise it for himself. Seven points up, Connacht champions Roscommon looked comfortable when Keegan raided and scored a goal. In total he scored 1-3. He also man-marked Enda Smith, keeping him to 0-1.
“Being seven points down, someone had to take the game by the scruff of the neck and put us back into a position to firstly compete and then obviously to go ahead, and I thought Lee did that very, very well,” said Stephen Rochford post-match.
- 2017 Dublin goal, All-Ireland final
17 September 2017; Lee Keegan of Mayo celebrates after scoring his side’s first goal in the 54th minute during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
“Andy Moran gives it in beautifully to Keegan… he has scored again!” - Ger Canning.
As well as scoring a goal he kept Ciaran Kilkenny scoreless. The Dublin half-forward had 66 possessions in the semi-final against Tyrone. In the final he was limited to 20.
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- Tyrone 2021 point, All-Ireland final
11 September 2021; Lee Keegan of Mayo in action against Niall Sludden of Tyrone during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Mayo and Tyrone at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Of all his stunning last stands, this was the greatest. An incredible one-man resistance when so much around him was misfiring. His point was powerful. Down by five with ten minutes left, Keegan unleashed a rocket from outside the 45. Could not have done more.
- Dublin 2021, All-Ireland semi-final
14 August 2021; Lee Keegan of Mayo during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
50 minutes on the clock. Dublin attack and lead by four. Lee Keegan is standing alongside Con O’Callaghan on the edge of the D. It looked frighteningly familiar until it didn’t. Niall Scully is tackled, Mayo break, Keegan takes off and O’Callaghan can’t keep up. He is left lagging behind; Keegan sets the big house ablaze.
- Lee Keegan vs Diarmuid Connolly 2016, All-Ireland finals
1 October 2016; Diarmuid Connolly of Dublin and Lee Keegan of Mayo during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final Replay match between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
His ultimate adversary, the finest match-up this century. For a single moment, Keegan’s goal in the replay is unforgettable. One remarkable stat also stands out. Overall, Keegan and Diarmuid Connolly faced each other five times between 2013 and 2016. The final tally from play? 1-4 apiece. That is what defined Lee Keegan. He kept coming back and going toe-to-toe with the best.
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Curtis could only dream of producing that
I wouldnt be sure Lee Keegan would make the top two of that four. He’s being ever so slightly overrated here which is strange for tfk. Fellas saying his goal finished in the AI finals were sublime etc. He put the head down and hit them as hard as he could after powering up the pitch
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I’m thinking about contenders for a Corkness XV (hurling obviously, there is no Corkness in football), a Monaghanness XV (country n’ Irish) a Downness XV (swagger), a Galwayness football XV (clean and stylish), a Galway hurling XV (pure dirt) a Tipperary XV (dripping with birthright) and a combined Offaly hurling/football XV (mavericks).
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And against Kerry in 2004.
Great for any young lad who doesn’t make the grades to hear that one of the all time greats was late developing
And against Kerry in 2006
The 2016 goal was a savage finish. Cluxton probably should have saved the 2017 goal as it was straight at him but it was too powerful from close range for him to parry.
Mayoness XV
1 John Madden (More bizarre meltdowns per minute of championship action than Rob Hennelly, wore a baseball cap which would fall off when he’d take a kickout, the calling card of a goalkeeper about to do something off the wall)
2 Kenneth Mortimer (a flash corner back who said his favourite type of music was “progressive house”)
3 Aidan O’Shea (let’s do something mental which sort of works, until he crashes into Cillian O’Connor)
4 Dermot Flanagan (You can’t have a Mayo team without a Flanagan, he’ll go off injured after four minutes)
5 Noel Connelly (a tidy wing back who perfected the time honoured Mayo art of looking down at the ground as he hoisted the Nestor Cup)
6 Donal Vaughan (Rain Man)
7 Colm Boyle (he’ll score a point from 45 metres off the outside of his right foot just before half time)
8 David Brady (Are you David Brady? Yesh, I’m the besht in the wesht)
9 TJ Kilgallon (a reassuring figure of constancy, one of those people that never looked young)
10 Padraig Brogan (brilliant but fleeting in the classic Mayo style)
11 Willie Joe Padden (It wouldn’t be a team from Mayo, not if they don’t have Willie Joe)
12 Joe Corcoran (Read your history)
13 Cillian O’Connor (annoying like a fly)
14 Liam McHale (A gentle giant in the classic Mayo role of being a big man playing out of position)
15 Andy Moran (he’ll run all day for you)
Subs:
Rob Hennelly (Unlucky Alf)
David Heaney (solid inter-county career ended by a Kerry thrashing)
James Nallen (solid inter-county career ended by a Kerry thrashing)
Pat Fallon (Mr. Honesty, had a face that was always destined to be Unlucky Alf)
Anthony Finnerty (big ruddy face, he’ll get on as a sub if he can recover from being on Up For The Match)
Ray Dempsey (big ruddy face)
Conor Mortimer (flash but not quite good enough)
Kevin McLoughlin (Mr. Honesty but not Mr. Scores)
Alan Dillon (worming his way into contention for a 62nd minute substitute’s role after being out of contention for most of the season)
James Sloyan (he played it)
Manager: John Maughan (wearing shorts, and don’t forget the tan, those legs, phwoaarrr)
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2016 was a peach …low and hard into the corner … all done at pace …
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Heard a rumour he was rowing again last weekend and maybe in trouble. Hopefully just a rumour.
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I assume that wasn’t on a lake?
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Lee Keegan was an utterly magnificent footballer who could play it any way you like in the full back line, half back line, in attack and in man marking duties.
Those goals he scored in the finals were earth shattering and they were two of the finest goals I’ve ever seen. Generally, hit the ball hard is what you do when you get a sight of goal. Do you take away style points from Carlos Alberto in 1970 because he thumped the ball as hard as he could?
I can only think of one, maybe two other players who have scored goals of such quality in separate All-Ireland finals. But they did not do it against the best team to ever play the game, Keegan did.
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He played his best, against the best.Thats the mark of a great player.
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Fair enough that was a great finish. Funnily enough the much beloved Aidan o Shea played a huge part in it too.
I assume that wasn’t on a lake?
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I initially assumed that the O’ Donovan brothers had competition for Paris 2024.
